Sri Lankan police say they have arrested an astrologer after he predicted serious political and economic problems for the government of President Mahinda Rajapakse. Chandrasiri Bandara, who writes an astrology column for a pro-opposition weekly, was taken in on Thursday, police spokesman Ranjith Gunasekara said. “The CID (Criminal Investigations Department) is questioning the astrologer,” Gunasekara said Friday, adding that they wanted to find out the “basis” for the prediction.
The astrologer had predicted that a planetary change on October 8 will be inauspicious for parliament and the government may not be able to arrest rising living costs — a prediction already made by private economists. The opposition United National Party condemned Bandara’s arrest and accused the government of heading towards a dictatorship. “The crime which Chandrasiri Bandara committed was publishing an astrological column which was adverse to the government,” UNP general secretary, Tissa Attanayake, said.
Sri Lankan politicians take astrology seriously and most have their own personal seers who decide the auspicious times to launch any new programme or work. The government’s popularity is at an all time high after the military crushed the Tamil Tiger rebels who fought for nearly four decades to carve out a separate state for minority Tamils from the majority Sinhalese community.
I don’t think they take it that serious. Humans stay human (brain patterns are the same everywhere, although not always developped the same way, not at the same level). Only countries which dont cooperate with the rest of the world politics might still work more with this type of stuff. Lots of people consult astrologers, even western people, also in high positions.
Maybe they did not want the guy to cause trouble/rumours among people, that’s more likely. So much for freedom of speech. Most people are not that easy anymore in believing just anything someone writes.
I think so at least.
Astrology is quite interesting though. How it got developped, the use of psychological skills in it. Knowledge of the univserse, planets/stars. Way back already.
this was certainly a valid concern in the old days–if the king didnt like yer predictions, you & all yer associates were dead meat, literally!
I sometimes wish I was a newspaper astrologer. I’d write the usual vague predictions as I was meant to, every day – but once or twice a year I would pick a star sign and put something crazy like “the calls are coming from inside the house! GET OUT NOW!” or “They know where you are. They like to watch you sleep.”
Then I would go back to normal. It would be great.